Heinrich was lying on the grass. He grabbed the second man’s leg. “I can help. Tell Cheong I’m useful. I know how to get into her files.”
The man holding Miranda looked down for just a moment. Griff hesitated, he wanted to take the shot so badly, but he couldn’t risk it. He needed to separate Miranda from the mercenaries. How?
Dalton came up behind him. Griff spared him a quick glance, then did a double take.
“What the hell?”
“After the Tahoe incident, I’m not leaving home without some firepower.” Dalton handed Dex an M14, but Griff praised God when Dalton handed him the MK12 sniper rifle.
“I’ll take the one fighting with the guy, you take the one with Miranda,” Dex said.
“Get Josiah on the phone.” Griff commanded. The last thing he needed was yelling or shooting from the front of the house.
Dex explained the situation to their captain.
“Okay, they’re standing down, but keeping that guy in their sites. Do you have an idea on how to separate Miranda from the merc?” Dex asked.
Griff looked over the fence. He saw the four of them. Five if you counted his daughter hugged so tightly to Miranda she looked to be a part of her.
Dalton darted over a few yards across the lawn and picked something up, then he came back holding a chewed up yellow tennis ball. “What do you think, will this work?”
Griff eyed it and nodded. “Throw it from over in that corner, it should get them to point their guns that way.”
Please baby, drop down when they turn.
Please baby.
I’m begging you Miranda.
As soon as she saw the sub-machine gun, the ability for higher thought had left her. This close the bullets would rip through Griff’s body armor and tear Livvie’s fragile body apart. What was she going to do?
How long had it been now? How long?
Griff!
She yanked back her head so she could look down at Livvie, she needed to see her daughter. “Let me go,” she cried.
“You will help me?” He breathed in her face.
“Yes.”
He let go of her hair.
She looked down, she was holding Livvie too tight. She saw that she was sweating and panting. She pushed back her blanket just enough so that she wasn’t covering her face, but not far enough to expose the vest.
“Livvie?”
Her head lolled.
“She needs water,” Miranda wept.
“Computer,” the man leaning over her demanded.
“I can help,” Heinrich whimpered.
Maybe he could. She saw that the other thug was enjoying kicking him. “Stop, I need him. He has to tell me where to upload the files. But first water for my baby.”
“We go inside,” the big man said. He grabbed her hair again, but it was too much. She hurt. The kick she’d taken from Heinrich forced her to double over, and he lost his grip.
Miranda thought she saw a flash of yellow, and the man turned. She took the opportunity to head for the ground and she heard a loud report of a gunshot, then another, and then a never-ending echo of shots. A stream of liquid burst against the side of her face, and she shrieked, losing her balance, still trying to cover Livvie without suffocating her.
“Miranda!”
It was Griff!
The trembling didn’t stop. She rolled over onto her back. She gagged when she saw the dead eyes of her father, bullets holes ripped through his entire body.
“Livvie, please help Livvie,” she begged through her swollen mouth and tears as Dex’s face wavered above her.
“Get water,” Griff yelled to someone.
She pushed herself over on her side, the pain was excruciating.
“Easy Miranda,” let me help Dex said.
She leaned against her husband’s teammate as she watched Griff grappling with Livvie, tugging at the vest. Then he was gently pulling her arms out of her tiny pink T-shirt. Dalton dove to his knees beside them, picking up the shirt and pouring water on it. Griff grabbed it, and started patting her everywhere.
“Munchkin? Honey? How you doing?” Griff’s voice was desperate.
She started to squirm, and he lifted her a little.
“Livvie, are you all right?” Griff asked again.
“Dada.”
“Yeah, honey. I’m right here.”
Then she let out an angry cry. Her little girl was working her way to a true tantrum. It was the most beautiful sound that Miranda had ever heard.
Epilogue
Griff looked around the hospital waiting room, it was déjà vu all over again. There was Beth and Jack Preston, and Jack had even brought something from the Snack Shack. Mason, Sophia and Billy. He was flanked by his parents, with his mom holding Livvie. Kenna was new as she stood by Dex, Josiah and-
“Mr. Porter?” A nurse walked into the crowded room. He jumped to his feet and rushed over.
“Yes?”
“Sorry for taking so long. We were with another patient. Your wife is doing fine. She’s in recovery, come this way.”
He turned to his mom. “Mom, can you bring Livvie, in about fifteen minutes, she’s going to want to see her.”
Claudia nodded. “Now go,” she waved him on.
They’d had to do surgery to stop the bleeding in one of her kidneys. It was a damn good thing that Roger Heinrich had died that day at the hands of the Chinese espionage ring, otherwise Griff would have been obliged to kill him. The man at the front door had been captured by Liam and Josiah and was singing a tune about a Chinese national by the name of Cheong. Apparently he was working out of Montreal to gather US military technology.
Josiah said that they had a lead on a huge network, that Cheong was just a small cog.
Just how far down the hall was Miranda?
“She’s the last room on this floor,” the nurse said. “One of my fellow nurses told me to expect you to spend the night, so I wanted to give you a quiet room.”
“How’s she doing?” Griff asked.
“She’s doing a lot better than I would have thought.”
That’s Miranda he smiled, as he touched his ribs.
“Did you wince?” The nurse asked.
“It’s nothing.”
She stopped in the middle of the hall and put her hands on her hips. “Wait a minute. When one of you Navy types shows any indication of pain, it’s something. What is it?”
“I might have a bruised rib,” he admitted reluctantly.
“Broken rib, got it. I’ll send someone in to tape it.”
He glared at her. She glared back.
He liked her.
“Now can I see my wife?”
The nurse opened the door and Griff walked in. There was Miranda, in a hospital bed again.
“For the love of God,” he roared. “Get off that damn phone!”
“I’ve got to go Evan,” she said into the receiver and then winced when she tried to put it down on the bed stand holder. He snatched it away from her and slammed it down.
“What was so important that you couldn’t wait until you were out of anesthesia to make a call?”
“I wanted to see how the meeting went? I already talked to your mom while you were debriefing with Josiah, and I know that Livvie checked out.”
God grant him patience. Did he say Type A women turned him on?
It really was déjà vu all over again. Only this time she didn’t have her laptop in the hospital room. But she’d saved a little girl, only this time it was their daughter.
He gave her a once over.
Her right eye was swollen shut, but her left eye was open, her blue eye shined at him. She smiled at him, and held out a hand. “You saved me. Again.”
“You’re a hero. Again.” He smiled.
Tears welled in her eye.
“Hey, what’s this?”
“Even after the wreck, I’ve never been so scared. The only thing that got me through, was knowing that you would save us.”
He b
ent down and touched his lips to hers, wanting to give her a gentle kiss of comfort. She let go of his hand, and pulled him close, her mouth flowering open. He needed this. He needed this connection with the woman who owned his soul. When she tried to arch even closer, he calmed her, crooning words of comfort and love.
“I think I want us to go away, and stay close together. I want you and Livvie within hands reach for at least two weeks.”
“You mean I won’t have to coerce you into spending time with me when you get out of the hospital, like three years ago?” he teased.
“I still don’t exactly remember how you talked me into moving in with you the first time, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Thank you so much for loving me, even though it took me so long to get here.”
He pushed a tendril of hair behind her ear. “Huh?”
“I know that it took me a long time to figure everything out. Thank you for waiting for me, and giving me the chance to grow up, and never giving up on me.”
He felt like his heart would burst out of his chest. She’d always been his soulmate, and now she knew it too.
“Miranda, there was never a chance of me giving up on you. Never. You’re my woman, you have been since I first saw you on that train.”
Her smile bloomed like sunshine.
Thank you for reading Her Honorable Hero. For more Military Romance check out my Midnight Delta series. Her Vigilant SEAL, Book 1 is free.
Get your copy of Her Vigilant SEAL here.
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author, Caitlyn O'Leary, adores writing Military Romantic Suspense and Paranormal Romance. She started publishing books in 2014. Storytelling has been a tradition in her family for years, and she still holds on to the letters she has received from family members since her childhood.
* * *
Caitlyn lives in California with her husband John of sixteen years who often makes guest appearances in her reader group, Caitlyn's Crew. Getting to know so many people within the reader community is almost as much fun as writing each new novel. So join her reader group so she can get to know you, and see if she and John can make it to year seventeen!
* * *
You never know what kind of book she'll write next, it all depends on what strikes her fancy. Be sure to keep in touch.
Keep up with Caitlyn O’Leary:
Website: www.caitlynoleary.com
Email: [email protected]
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/c5FqPv
Also by Caitlyn O’Leary
The Midnight Delta Series
Her Vigilant Seal (Book #1)
Her Loyal Seal (Book #2)
Her Adoring Seal (Book #3)
Seal with a Kiss (Book #4)
Her Daring Seal (Book #5)
Her Fierce Seal (Book #6)
A Seals Vigilant Heart (Book #7)
Her Dominant Seal (Book #8)
Her Relentless Seal (Book #9)
Her Treasured Seal (Book #10)
* * *
Black Dawn Series
Her Steadfast Hero (Book #1)
Her Devoted Hero (Book #2)
Her Passionate Hero (Book #3)
Her Wicked Hero (Book #4)
Her Guarded Hero (Book #5)
Her Captivated Hero (Book #6)
Her Honorable Hero (Book #7)
* * *
The Found Series
Revealed (Book #1)
Forsaken (Book #2)
Healed (Book #3)
* * *
Shadows Alliance Series
Declan
* * *
Fate Harbor Series
Trusting Chance (Book #1)
Protecting Olivia (Book #2)
Claiming Kara (Book #3)
Isabella’s Submission (Book #4)
Cherishing Brianna (Book #5)
Her Honorable Hero Page 16
